


So Unlike Me

by Stooksss



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-12
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-05-26 04:32:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6223972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stooksss/pseuds/Stooksss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being the younger sister of the country's biggest celebrity nerd, Chris Hardwick, was just as great as it seemed. If only his friends didn't make life so complicated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction

My heart raced as I grabbed my suitcase and made my way out of the airport. It was a few days before Thanksgiving and I, with the help of my brother's fiancé, had planned to surprise my big brother by flying from Portland to LA. We were both career-oriented people, so we hadn't seen each other in person in almost three years. We would Skype and FaceTime periodically, but it wasn't the same.

Lydia, my soon-to-be sister-in-law, told me that Chris wouldn't be traveling for the rest of the year and asked if I would be able to spend the holiday season with them. I immediately accepted her invitation and we began planning the surprise. As if on cue, Lydia texted me the address of Chris's studio as I entered the backseat of a cab. I read it off to the driver and he began driving.

I'd never actually been inside of Nerdist Studio, so I was excited when I walked through the doors. Lydia had filled Chris's receptionist in on our scheme, so she took my bag and put it behind her desk for me and then told me where I could find my brother. I could hear his voice through the door as I stood in the hallway. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door. His back was to me, so I took the opportunity to pounce at him.

"What the fuck," he yelled, quite startled. I released myself from him and grinned as he turned around. "Sid?!" His grin mirrored mine as he embraced me and lifted me off the ground.

"Surprise!" I laughed with happiness.

"What are you doing here?" He set me back down.

"Lydia invited me to spend the holidays with the two of you."

"This is so fucking awesome! I'm just finishing up here." Chris suddenly looked to his right, causing me to look and notice that there was another person in the room with us. "Sidney, this is Dan. We just finished recording his podcast. His movie, Victor Frankenstein, comes out in a couple of days."

"Nice to meet you. Chris has told me a bit about you." Dan offered his hand.

"Nice to meet you, too. Chris has told me about you, too. That was so cool of you to ask him to speak at your star dedication."

"He did a great job."

"Stop flattering me, Daniel," Chris laughed. "We were just getting ready to grab lunch."

"We don't have to do that, Chris. Go spend time with your sister."

"No," I protested. "If you guys had plans, I want you to follow through. I can take my stuff to your place."

"Just leave it here and tag along," Chris suggested. I looked at Dan, not wanting to impose, but agreed when I saw him nod.

The three of us walked a few blocks over from the studio to a small sushi restaurant, talking along the way. It was sunny and warm, which was a refreshing change from the colder weather I was used to in Portland. We sat at a table on the restaurant's shaded patio quietly while looking over the menu. I chose an eel roll and a glass of white wine. After Chris and Dan ordered, we picked up our conversation.

"So let me get this straight. You play a corpse in one of your upcoming movies. And you're one of the leads. A corpse is a lead role?"

"You would be correct. It's probably my best work to date." Chris laughed at his fake seriousness, as did I. "So what about you, Sidney? Chris has yet to tell me what you do. Only that you're busy all of the time."

"I'm an audio engineer for Rise Records. I record and sometimes tour with some of the bands."

"Really? Like whom?"

"Bouncing Souls, Silverstein, The Early November, and the like."

"Nice." Dan nodded approvingly. I asked Chris about his current projects and the three of us enjoyed each others company as we ate.

Growing up as the little sister of Chris Hardwick was always entertaining. He was 18 when I was born, so we never lived together, but that didn't make him a bad brother; quite opposite, actually. He would let me stay with him during school breaks and would take me with him on set of whatever show he was hosting. I'd met a lot of celebrities over the years because of him, so I'd gotten over being star-struck by people at a young age. I did, however, admire Dan's work very much, so it was exciting to be hanging out with him.

After we'd finished our meal, Daniel started to say his goodbyes, saying he had to go and pick up his girlfriend from the airport.

"We've decided to spend the holiday here," he told us. "My family obviously doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving and she isn't close with hers, so we're going to use this as a vacation."

"Enjoy your time, man. And if you want, come have dinner with me, Lydia, and Sid. Now that it's not just the two of us, I'm sure Lydia will want to go all out. Two more guests will make her even more festive."

"For sure. Just text me a time and we'll be there. Sidney, I very much enjoyed meeting you and I look forward to seeing you again. Bye, guys." I returned his goodbye and focused on my brother once Dan was out of earshot.

"You're the best big brother ever, you know."

"Of course I know, but why are you reminding me?"

"You know how into his work I am! I've always been jealous that you're friends with him."

"Aw! Sidney has a crush!"

"Grow up, asshole," I laughed.

"You totally do, though!"

"Let's go get my bag. I'm excited to see your house." He continued to tease me, but I let him because I was too happy to see him to make him stop.


	2. One.

I'd seen Chris and Lydia's home only once before, so after taking my bags to one of the guest rooms, they gave me an updated tour. They had managed to combine their tastes into a truly eclectic and sophisticated style. My own apartment wasn't nearly as cool. I had some art, collectibles, and music memorabilia, but I hadn't done much with it since I was gone most of the time.

My career, while important to me, was a double-edged sword that Chris brought up whenever we spoke. I had practically no sort of work-life balance and I was traveling more than half of the year. I would bring up that he did the same, to which he'd reply that he loved what he did and that he could tell I didn't. He wasn't wrong, but I never told him that. When they were done showing me their home, Chris excused himself to take a call, leaving Lydia and I to hang out for a bit.

“Since we're going to be sisters soon, I thought I'd give you a heads up,” she began after we got comfortable on her patio, iced tea in hand.

“Heads up? On what?”

“At some point while you're here, Chris is going to ask you if you want to move in with us. He's worried about you. I just wanted to let you know that I would love to have you here with us, so you don't need to worry about me when you think about it, which I hope you will.” Lydia smiled at me, looking a little uncomfortable, as if she were scared she'd crossed a line in telling me this. It took me a moment to reply.

“I appreciate the offer and I'll definitely consider it. To be honest, I feel like I'm in a rut, which is part of the reason I finally cashed out my vacation time and agreed to come visit. I'm not really into the music anymore and I'm tired of sleeping in vans and tour buses. There are still some bands and coworkers that I like and get along with, but I can't stay just because of that. I have no idea how I'd start over, though. I started right out of college. I've never worked for anyone else. It's really frustrating.” I sighed and took a big drink of my tea. “Sorry for ranting.”

“Don't be sorry! I like this! Not that you're going through this, of course, but I never got to really do this sort of thing with Gillian. We had a unique sort of upbringing, if you can imagine,” she chuckled. While growing up rich may have had it's perks, I'm sure there were quite a few downfalls as well.

“I can. And I like this, too. Chris and I are close, but it's different talking to another woman. I really appreciate you and I'm excited we'll be sisters.”

“Me, too. Now let's end on a hug and then we can be done with the sappy moment and focus on fun!” We both laughed and hugged. When we pulled apart, we went back inside to discuss what to do for Thanksgiving. Lydia had never hosted her own dinner before and didn't know what all she should make, so we got all of the cookbooks she had and spread them on the counter of her island. Searching for dinner dishes somehow turned into finding the strangest recipes we could. By the time Chris rejoined us, Lydia and I were crying from laughter.

“Well this is nice to see,” he said, leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed.

“Honey!” Lydia rose from her chair and went to him, kissing him on the cheek. “Are you done with work for the day?”

“I sure am. And we have plans that I've set up, so get ready and meet up by the door in ten. And break!” Chris clapped and raced away, Lydia running after him. I couldn't help but grin at how grossly sweet they were together. After closing the book I'd been going through, I hurried upstairs to change. When I made it back downstairs, Chris and Lydia were waiting for me.

“So what sort of plans are we talking,” I asked. “Dinner, celebrity death bus tour, jumping fences and walking on manicured lawns?”

“One of those things is on the list, but I'm not saying which. First, though, Go-Carts. I'm kicking your ass.”

“Remember last time we did that? If I remember correctly, my ass was perfectly fine,” I retorted.

“That was eight years ago. I've had practice since then.”

“He's actually not lying,” Lydia added. “We've gone quite a few times since we met and without fail, he brings up redemption every time.”

“We'll see, then, won't we.” Chris raised an eyebrow at me before breaking his seriousness and giving me an unexpected hug.

“Goddamn I'm glad you're here,” he said.

“Me, too.” I gave him a tight squeeze and thought about what Lydia had told me on the patio. Maybe it was time for a change.

 

We took an Uber to the go-cart track. I was surprised to see how large the place was. Lydia told me that they had a ton of other games and activities aside from go-carts when she noticed my surprise. While she was listing off everything they had, my attention wandered elsewhere. Standing just inside the doors was Dan. Lydia noticed and smiled, telling me Chris had made her promise not to tell.

“Hey guys,” Dan greeted as we walked in.

“Hey! Glad you could make it.” Chris gave him a stereotypical _bro-clap_. “Where's your Krista?”

“She said she was jet-lagged and wanted to rest. And this really isn't her sort of thing, so it's for the best.” Dan didn't sound all that positive in what he was saying, but none of us said anything.

“We can be on teams, then,” Lydia suggested. “Sidney and Dan, me and Chris?” We all agreed and followed Chris to the check-in desk. Before long, the four of us were strapping ourselves into our carts. Dan and I had agreed to do whatever we could to keep Chris from winning. I was pleasantly surprised at how enthusiastic he was about the plan. His mood seemed to have improved quite a bit since the mention of his girlfriend not tagging along. As we waited side by side for the light to turn green, Dan held his fist out next to me. I laughed at obliged with the fist bump. A moment later, we began.

The track was multilayered with curves and ramps I'd not driven before. It took me a lap to get the hang of it, but once I did, the race was on! Dan and I made sure to block Chris wherever we could. He managed to pass us a few times, but one of us was always able to maneuver around him. We were on our last lap, still blocking Chris, when something we hadn't expected happened. Lydia, who'd been behind us the whole time, sped passed and came in first. Dan was able to get second, with Chris and I coming in last.

“Fuck yeah,” Lydia yelled as she stepped out of her cart, flipping us the bird with both hands.

“This is why we're getting married,” Chris said before lifting her off the ground and kissing her. Again, they were being grossly sweet.

“We totally didn't account for that,” Dan laughed as he walked up next to me.

“Our hubris has brought us shame, Mr. Radcliffe.” I feigned disappointment.

“I'll never be able to work again. No one will want me now that I'm a sub par driver. I'll have to live on nothing but table scraps and my ginormous fortune.” He put his head in his hands.

“It'll be okay, Dan,” I patted his back. “You can always sell your body for money.”

“True. I am gorgeous.” Neither of us could keep up with the serious demeanor any longer. We burst out laughing, neither able to speak for a moment. When I gained composure and wiped my eyes, I looked over at my brother and soon-to-be sister and saw them wink and give me a thumbs-up. The eye roll I gave them was involuntary, as was the small smile that crept onto my face.

“Nice driving, though. Second place isn't bad.”

“Thanks. I'd say we did pretty well with our plan.”

“For sure. Now he can't gloat.” Little did I know, I was wrong. For at least fifteen minutes after our race ended, Chris rubbed it in our faces that Lydia had beat us. When I mentioned that she beat him, too, he said that the winning title still belonged to him, too, since we were on teams. I let him have his victory without argument.

We played a few more games, like ski-ball and a quick game of laser tag, before leaving for dinner. At every chance, Chris and Lydia paired me and Dan up. I knew what they were getting at, and I could tell Dan was catching on, too, but neither of us said anything. It was fun, though, to be spending time with him. Our humor complimented each other and I found that we had a shared love Tom Lehrer. Every now and then, I kept having to remind myself that he had a girlfriend.

When we arrived at the restaurant and were seated, Dan excused himself to the restroom. I took the opportunity to confront Chris and Lydia.

“I know what you're doing and, while I'm appreciative, I need you to stop. He has a girlfriend.” They just stared at me, Chris humming “Single Ladies” and Lydia turning her hand back and forth like in the video. “Stop,” I chuckled. “I'm being serious.”

“Okay, we're sorry,” Chris sighed. “It's just, he's such a cool guy and I know you guys would hit it off.”

“And Krista is awful,” Lydia said. “I try to find the good in everyone, but she's just horrible. I met her when I went with Chris to Dan's star dedication and she was just on her phone the entire time. We went out to eat after and she sent her salad back three times. It's a fucking salad! Who does that?” Lydia's dislike surprised me. If she didn't approve of someone, they had to be terrible.

“Thanksgiving dinner should be fun, then,” I grimaced.

“Let's not think about that. It's your first night in town, we're having fun, you're winning Dan over and making him rethink his relationship. Let's just keep up with that,” Chris proposed.

“Dude, stop,” I laughed. “Please,” I asked. “You're making it weird. I can tell that he's picking up on what you're throwing down and I don't want him to be creeped out by it.”

“We'll stop,” Lydia promised. “I'll make sure Chris doesn't make it weird.” She kissed him on the cheek.

“That's all I ask.” As if on cue, Dan returned as soon as our conversation ended. I was relieved that they'd agreed and that dinner wouldn't be awkward. At least, not because of them.


End file.
